Are you considering getting your child a cellphone?

This post brought to you by Kajeet. All opinions are 100% mine.

Does your child have a cellphone? I think it’s probably something that parents agonize over a lot – should we, or shouldn’t we, give our child a cellphone?

We were against giving our children cellphones for a long time. That is until one day at summer camp when it became clear to us that our kids needed to have cellphones in case of emergencies.

Long story short, my kids were at camp. They took the kids to the Bronx Zoo which is on the other side of the river from where we live. There was an accident on the bridge coming home and the buses were stuck on the bridge, in traffic. I didn’t find out about this until after my kids failed to come home from camp at their normal time. I had to call around to find out they were stuck in traffic.

Both of my kids were young at that time (6 and 8 1/2). I didn’t want to go home and let them walk home from the bus stop alone, so I had to sit in my car and wait for them to finally come home. It was an extremely hot day that day, my car didn’t have a working AC and “nature called” and I was afraid to go home and use the restroom in case the camp bus showed up when I was gone. So I sat there for over two hours until they got home.

The next day they had cellphones. It was a “no brainer” at that point. Had my kids had phones with them they could have called me and told me what was going on, or I could have called them to find out why the bus didn’t show up. And they could have called me to let me know when they were almost home so I could have waited in our home and not in the “oven” (aka – my car).

Deciding what phone service and phone to get your child is a big decision. Do you add them to your existing service or get them another one that is more “kid friendly”.

Kajeet is the only wireless service provider in the U.S. that is dedicated to children and education. Kajeet was created with children and the concerns of parents in mind.

When we were looking into getting our children cellphones, the cost of the plan was a huge concern. We didn’t want it to cost us a lot of money each month, especially because we were “on the fence” about the phones and if they were going to have them year round, or just when they went to camp.

I wish Kajeet was around back then because they have plans that start at just $4.99 a month. In addition they don’t charge an activation fee. You don’t have to worry about long term contracts with Kajeet (there are none) and you can cancel at any time and not have to pay a termination fee. You can even change plans without additional fees or expenses.

I also like that they give you a choice of really nice phones too like a Samsung Galaxy S III 4G Lite or the LG Viper 4G Lite. When my kids received their first phones they were inexpensive flip phones. Kajeet offers phones that are great for adults too. These are real phones, not phones with one or two buttons on them with pre-programmed phone numbers in them.

One thing I really love about cellphones is their GPS Phone Locator services. Kajeet offers that on all of their phones right out of the box. There is nothing you need to download or add.

The GPS Phone Locator service is easy to use. It’s included in service plans starting at $24.99/month or you can use in “on demand” whenever you need it for .99 cents.

GPS Phone Locator service, in my opinion, is a must have. Even as teenagers we use it. It’s good to know that you kids are where they are supposed to be. It provides parents with peace of mind.

When our daughter goes out with her friends we worry that they will head out some place we don’t know about. Having the GPS Phone Locator helps us to keep track of where she is. She’s not too keen about it (we caught her going some place she wasn’t supposed to) but it keeps us from worrying about her safety and well being.

The service also helps to find your child’s phone in case they lose it. We’ve had that happen a few times. It was before GPS Phone Locator service.

Once our daughter left her phone on the bus after a field trip to NYC with her class. Thankfully the bus driver found her phone and called my number (her phone wasn’t locked and she had “mom” in her contacts). Another time our neighbor found her phone at a local park. We call that time a miracle because out of all the people that could have found our phone it was the lady who lived across the hall from us. She didn’t even realize it was our daughter’s phone until she looked at the contacts and recognized my number. We really lucked out both times.

With GPS Phone Locator you can find your child’s phone if they left it at a friend’s house, school, or even at the playground.

The GPS Phone Locator also has a few nifty features with Kajeet. You can get a time/date stamp when you log in to your account to track you child in real time. The location is also added to the “locate history” for the specific device.

You can also schedule recurring locates. For example, if your child has basketball practice every Wednesday at 3:00 PM you can schedule a locate that will deliver you results every Wednesday at 3:00 PM so that you know your child is at practice or not. I think that is a cool feature.

In addition to GPS Phone Locator service, Kajeet offers several parental controls, all accessible and managed from your computer. You can set up limits when your child can, or cannot, use the phone (no need to worry about late night texting), block unwanted calls and decide who pays for things like ringtones and games. I think parental controls are very important for younger children who might not know better.

If you are interested in learning more about Kajeet visit Kajeet.com. You can also visit their coverage map to make sure they are available in your area (http://www.kajeet.com/4u/coverage.html).

You can purchase phones from the Kajeet website too. You can also Bring Your Own Sprint® Device to Kajeet. You can have a device activated with Kajeet. Most Sprint branded phones are eligible except iPhone 4, 4S and 5.

What do you think about Kajeet? Does it sound like a service you would use with your child? Do you have a favorite feature like GPS Phone Locator or parental controls? Feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

Kimberly